


When Flame Finds Skin

by bluegreendream



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Asexual Charlie Weasley, Asexual Relationship, Beauxbatons, Castelobruxo, Charlie Weasley Loves Dragons, Charlie Weasley-centric, Dragonologist Charlie Weasley, Durmstrang, F/M, Homoromantic, M/M, Mahoutokoro (Harry Potter), Major Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Other, POV Charlie, POV Charlie Weasley, Queer Themes, Romanian Dragon Sanctuary (Harry Potter), Trans Female Character, Uagadou (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27939397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegreendream/pseuds/bluegreendream
Summary: Charlie Weasley finally gets to live out his biggest dream: training to be a dragon tamer at the prestigious Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. Fresh out of leaving Hogwarts, he is quickly thrown into a world much unlike the one he has always known. Doing so comes with a cost, and Charlie must choose between what his family wants for him and what he wants for himself, however entangled those things might be.
Relationships: Charlie Weasley/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20





	1. A New Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! So excited to share this fic with you all – it is an idea I have been toying with in my head for quite some time now, and I am so glad to have finally had time to bring it to life. A huge thank you to my new friend, [Carly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeyongseo/pseuds/taeyongseo), who agreed to help me get thing thing started! 
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, and leave kudos if you like it. Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> [Tumblr](https://bluegreendream.tumblr.com/)  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/blugreendream)

Charlie stood at the edge of the sanctuary, beaming at the gorgeous, expansive view in front of him. The moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived, and it almost felt like a dream. He had many dreams in anticipation of this moment, and nothing compared to the reality of it all - his feet planted firmly on the gravelly ground, with the cool mountain air whispering by him.

The sanctuary was positioned in a valley surrounded by sprawling, snow-capped mountains. A river weaved its way through the middle and emptied into a shimmering deep-blue lake. It was clearer and bluer than any body of water he had ever seen before. The buildings were much smaller here, almost as if they were trying not to get in the way of the scenery they intruded upon. Everything about the sanctuary seemed so foriegn, and even pictures he had on his walls for years could only do it so much justice. 

The thought of this being Charlie’s home for the next five years made his heart swell. He had waited painfully long for this moment; prepared so hard. Now, every late-night solitary reading session, every cut and every bruise from working with all of Hagrid’s creatures seemed worth it.

The fact that he would have almost had to wait another five years to begin his studies was unbearable. The program only took a set of students every five years, and saw them through their studies until they were ready to begin their careers. Due to every academic calendar around the world aligning ever-so-differently, the program was to start while Charlie had been in the home stretch of his education at Hogwarts. If he had decided to stay there and finish his studies, it would have meant that he would have had to reapply to the sanctuary in five years. He simply wouldn’t have been able to put his life on hold for that long. 

He had wanted to study dragons for years now, and every choice he had made was influenced by this aspiration. This had been just one more choice - a tough one, but a necessary one. His family would be disappointed; he had known that. But what had intimidated him the most had been the conversation he would ultimately have to have with none other than the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Charlie thought back to that conversation, as it was one of the biggest reasons he was able to be standing where he was at that moment. 

_“Professor Dumbledore, are you – may I speak to you for a moment?”_

_Charlie remembered how nervous he felt entering the Headmaster’s office that January evening._

_Dumbledore smiled at him, his eyes twinkling through his half-moon spectacles._ Had he picked up on his slightly trembling voice? Had his nervousness been that apparent? 

_“I already know what you are about to ask, Mr. Weasley. I, taking a lot of pride in the ability to see problems well before they arise, was well aware that you would be needing to finish your studies early. Hogwarts has always meant to prepare young witches and wizards for whatever they wish to face upon leaving - it is as simple as that. You have been ready to enter this new chapter of your life for quite some time now. I will see that your professors are aware of your circumstances. However, I do wish you luck on breaking this news to Oliver Wood. He will be most disappointed that you will not be continuing your career in Quidditch - you are quite the seeker.”_

_Charlie timidly smiled. He knew Oliver, who would replace him as Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, wouldn’t take the news well, but that was another problem for a later day. “Thank you so much professor. I really do appreciate it.”_

_Dumbledore stood up and walked over to open the door for Charlie. “Charlie, dragons are creatures that are not to be taken lightly - misunderstood a lot of the time, yet still very dangerous. However, I have the utmost confidence in you, and I know you will make Hogwarts proud.”_

“...make Hogwarts proud,” Charlie whispered to himself, still gazing out into the distant mountains. Was that a burst of flame and smoke he saw in the distance, or was it just his excitement getting to him? He knew he would make Hogwarts proud. He would make his family proud, too (once they fully accepted this as his career choice, of course).

With the way the Ministry and their education labeling dragons as extremely dangerous, not many other Hogwarts students pursued dragon-taming and the like as a career. In fact, many of his classmates had teased him about it, some even making bets behind his back on how long he would last in the profession. He wouldn't be surprised if there were no other Hogwarts students besides him attending the sanctuary. 

Now where were the dorms? He pulled out his map of the sanctuary from his bag. He had studied this map every day for the past few weeks in preparation for the moment when he would finally be able to use that knowledge, but being there in person was much different. He finally spotted what looked like the dormitory building, and made his way down the steep, rocky hill to the flat ground where all of the buildings were located. Walking quickly down the gravely path, glancing around every few seconds to see if he could spot any other students or teachers, he made it to the door and entered.

The dormitory was very small compared to Hogwarts. The Romanian Dragon Sanctuary was highly selective, so there were only twenty students participating in the program. There was no segregation by house (as those didn’t exist elsewhere), or gender for that matter. There was only one floor, and only a small common room with a couple of tattered couches separating the front door from a long hallway with half a dozen doors lining either side. Charlie beamed as he took his first glances of where he would be living for the next five years. It was perfect. 

In the common room, a piece of parchment nailed to the wall listed every participant's name along with what room they would be staying in. Charlie quickly found his name on the list: _Charles Weasley - #08_

As he approached the door to his room, Charlie realized how desperately he needed to sit down. Traveling by portkey never got easier, and he felt rather nauseated from the journey. He opened the door to find that his roommate had already arrived, and was sitting on one of the two beds in the room. 

“Oh hi - hello!” his new roommate gasped. He seemed startled by Charlie’s sudden entrance. 

“Hello! Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Charlie Weasley.” 

Charlie took a long-awaited seat on the bed opposite his new roommate.

“Elian Levski! But you can call me Eli. So nice to meet you.” Eli got up to shake Charlie’s hand, which he enthusiastically accepted. 

Unlike Charlie, who was shorter and stocky, Eli was tall and lanky with grey eyes, freckled olive skin, and a mess of jet-black hair. He had a rather gaunt face, which greatly contradicted his radiant smile. Charlie noticed he had somewhat of an accent, although he couldn’t make out exactly where it was from. But he had heard that last name before… 

And then it clicked. “Levski? The Bulgarian Chaser. You’re not related, are you?” 

Eli’s smile widened even more. “Yep. He’s a cousin of mine. But don’t expect nearly the same skills from me. He got all the good Quidditch genes unfortunately.” 

“Wicked!” Charlie exclaimed. “I used to play seeker back at Hogwarts, and I was a damned good one if I don’t say so myself.” 

“Oh yeah? I’m a seeker too, actually; I played at Durmstrang for a while.”

Durmstrang. The only thing Charlie knew about that school was that it tended to have a reputation to churn out more dark wizards than any other wizarding school. But they couldn’t all be bad. He was smart enough to realize that. 

“...although I wasn’t all that good,” Eli continued. “My eyesight isn’t all that great and I could never really afford glasses.”

Eli must have noticed his concern, because his smile faltered. But before either one could say anything, a loud, booming voice came out of the sound bell protruding from the ceiling. It almost seemed muggle-like. Charlie was sure he had seen his dad fiddling with something similar multiple times in his shed back at the Burrow. He grinned as he thought of home.

“Welcome new students! Kindly meet in the lawn in front of the dormitories in fifteen minutes wearing your old school robes.”

Charlie thought back to the robes mentioned on the packing list. Having passed down most of his school robes to his younger brothers, he had only managed to bring a severely tattered set that could not even pass as a hand-me-down. 

He noticed Eli already frantically looking through his bag, eventually giving up to use a summoning charm. An equally-tattered set of blood-red robes landed in Eli’s hands. Once Charlie retrieved his own robes, he held them out to Eli, who smirked at the sight of them. 

“Well, at least you won’t be the only one.”

Charlie couldn’t help but grin back. 

Once they had changed into their robes, they headed out towards the front lawn for their first meeting. The first thing Charlie noticed among the other students was the variety of robes everyone was wearing, the first of which he recognized being the elegant baby blue ones - those of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. 

The other robes he could recognize were the bright green robes of Castelobruxo of South America. He had very much wanted to go on an exchange trip there during his fifth year, and had even tried to save up for it by getting a summer job at The Magical Menagerie, but he fell heartbreakingly short of the money needed to go. He didn’t even bother asking his parents for help, as they had told Bill there was no way they could afford the same trip when he asked. 

What caught Charlie’s eye more than any of the rest of the robes were the stunning golden robes worn by a witch and a wizard who were animatedly speaking to each other in a language Charlie couldn’t recognize.

“Mahoutokoro. From Japan,” Eli assisted. “They must be good students, too. Only the top of the class have robes _that_ gold. The robes are enchanted.” There were many other different colors of robes, of origins which Eli and Charlie did not know, yet Charlie was very eager to learn. 

As they approached the group of students all waiting for their instructor, Charlie noticed a lot of them glancing their way. Charlie smiled, very excited to meet those with the same interests as him, but as they got nearer, he noticed a lot of them seemed to have cold expressions on their faces. Was it him? A wave of anxiety passed through him. _I knew I should have brought better robes,_ he thought. 

“Hello,” Eli tried. No one around them returned it, except for a cheery witch, whom to Charlie’s surprise was also wearing Hogwarts robes. Their robes, however, dawned the characteristic emerald green of Slytherin, whereas Charlie’s contained the crimson red of Gryffindor. 

“Hi!” she greeted. She had bright red hair and somewhat of a mousy face. 

“Wait,” Eli skeptisized. “Your hair…” he trailed off. “It was just-”

“I’m a metamorphmagus! I can change my appearance however I like,” she interrupted with a smug expression as her hair rapidly alternated from bright red, to electric blue, to neon green, and finally back to bright red.

Charlie immediately thought back to Nymphadora Tonks, a Hufflepuff witch his age who had the same ability. 

“Woah! You’re kind of rare, aren’t you?” Eli wondered. 

“Only one in the family, too,” she continued. “I’m Gal, by the way. Gal Bulstrode.”

“I’m Eli. Nice to meet you, Gal.”

Gal turned to face Charlie. “I see you’re also a Hogwarts student,” she observed. “Looks like we’re the only two here. Can’t say I’m very surprised, though.”

“Charlie Weasley. I’m sorry, I can’t say I recognize you,” Charlie mentioned. 

“You probably wouldn’t have,” Gal answered. “I went by a different name back then—Gregory Bulstrode.”

He remembered the Slytherin three years older than him, and it only took Charlie a few seconds for it to click. He understood why Gal probably waited to transition until after Hogwarts.The other Slytherins would have undoubtedly been real arses about it. Charlie noticed Eli dawning a face of realization not unlike his own.

“Well it’s nice to have another Hogwarts alum here,” Charlie said, smiling at her. 

“Likewise,” she agreed, returning a toothy grin.

Before the group of students waited too long, a woman appeared in front of them. She was a tall, thin witch, with her dark brown hair in a long braid down her back. Anyone who looked at her would know exactly where she spent most of her time. 

“Welcome everyone,” she announced. “I am Director Alexandra Silverleaf, but please - just call me Xandra.”

Charlie recognized the American accent at once. Were all Americans that informal?

“Today marks the start of a five year journey, one that will come with many challenges, most likely multiple burns, and perhaps a lost limb. Or two. Who knows?” 

A lot of the students’ faces shifted from excited to uneasy. 

“I can assure you, if taken seriously, this program will prepare you well for whatever dragon-related profession you so choose to enter- whether that be dragonology, dragon care, taming, or keeping. Our faculty staff, who you will meet tomorrow, are of the best in the world at what they do. You are in great hands.”

“Now,” she continued, “I must lay out a few ground rules. Failure to comply with any of these rules will most likely cause death, so I encourage you to listen closely. First, no one, and I _do_ mean no one, is to encounter any dragons alone. You will learn that dragons are intimidating creatures which require the solidarity of humans. Secondly, while this is common sense I hope, everyone _must_ wear protective gear when in proximity to dragons. I can assure you that none of you are invincible, and even the meek flame of the Common Welsh Green will burn a hole right through you before you can say ‘codswallop’. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, anyone caught smuggling, stealing, or participating in any other illegal dragon activity will be immediately expelled. Clear?”

There were nervous nods of assent from every student in the group. 

“Great,” Xandra confirmed. She then summoned a large bronze tub from the side of the dormitory building. “You may be wondering why you have been asked to wear your old school robes today, and I must say, they all look _fabulous_ on you.” The three girls from Beauxbatons giggled somewhat obnoxiously. 

“We will now be taking part in a tradition for all new students of the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. First, I must ask you to remove your robes. But please _do_ keep the clothes underneath on, if you don’t mind.”

Confused, Charlie unclasped his robes and quickly removed them, other students all around him doing the same. “What is she playing at?” Eli concerendly whispered as he fumbled with his cape. 

“Good,” Xandra said smugly. “Now, one-by-one, you will all come up to the front of the group, say your name and what school you went to. You will then place your robes in here,” she explained, pointing to the large bronze tub. “No need to place them neatly,” she added, “just throw them in. Now, who’s first?” She studied the group.

Charlie, who was typically one to take initiative, raised his hand. “Great, our first volunteer!” Xandra proclaimed. Charlie sheepishly walked to the front of the group. “Hi! I’m Charlie Weasley, and I went to Hogwarts.” Xandra clapped, imploring the rest of the students to do the same. The rest of the students joined in somewhat unenthusiastically. 

Gal went next, and Eli followed right after. After a Beauxbatons conventionally handsome student named Jacques Bisset and apparently-clumsy Keiko Asuka from Mahoutokoro (who nearly tripped and fell on the way up to the front), Charlie began to have trouble keeping track of everyone’s names and where they were from. The burnt orange robes he had noticed before were from the African school of Uagadou, and those students were Ryndold, Aisha, and Imara–easy enough. _But was Rachel Chavez from Ilvermorny, or was it Abigail Walsh? No, Abigail was homeschooled–that’s right._ _She had a twin brother as well, Noah._ Another three Beauxbatons students had their turns throwing their baby blue robes into the tub–Luca, Ellen, and Francisco. _How many of them from there are there, anyway?_

While learning all of the names proved to be somewhat difficult on the first try, it really was amazing to see students from all over the world pursuing the same passion as him. Since Charlie’s family couldn’t ever really afford to travel, he had limited knowledge of what all was out there, and his knowledge of the world was narrowed down to what he learned at Hogwarts and his time at home at the Burrow. He knew he had so much more to learn, with the diverse group of witches and wizards around him, it would be the perfect opportunity to broaden his horizons.

After a Castelobruxo student named Carmen Devia and the other Mahoutokoro student, Taketa Soro, everyone had finally had their turn to introduce themselves and all of the robes were now in the bronze bin. 

“I think that is everyone!” Xandra announced. “Now that we have all had the chance to introduce ourselves, I would like to formally welcome you to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary!” 

Before anyone could clap or even say anything, she retrieved her wand from the inside of her jacket, and shouted a somewhat long, complex incantation. A bright flash of light erupted from her wand and into the bronze tub, sending the entire pile of discarded robes into vibrant purple flames. 


	2. Judgement and Perception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie makes decisions on who his friends will be and questions judgements that may or may not be fair.

The twenty students watched in astonishment as the purple fire engulfed their robes. “Does she _realize_ the amount of gold those are worth?” Gabrielle, from Beauxbatons, hissed. 

However, Charlie noticed the robes didn’t seem to be burning normally. Instead of them collapsing down into ashes, they seemed to be melting into a bubbling black sludge, the variety of robe colors disappearing into it. A bunch of the students leaned in closer to get another look, while Xandra grinned down into the tub like this was something she saw a lot.

Charlie looked to his side to notice Eli beaming at the magic that was happening in front of them, and he couldn’t help but find it fascinating as well. Before they all waited too much longer, the fire had died off and the boiling was subdued down to a simmer. At that moment, Xandra touched the tip of her wand to the mysterious substance and pulled up. Attached to the tip of her wand was a new set of robes, much sleeker--different than any of the robes the students had put into the tub. Looking closer, Charlie noticed ‘WEASLEY’ embroidered on the front of them. “Charlie,” Xandra called, and Charlie walked back up to the front to accept his seemingly new set of robes. 

Xandra performed the same maneuver of touching her wand tip to the substance and pulling out a set of robes in the same order that they were put in the tub, calling each student up to the front when their robes were formed.

Charlie, Eli, and Gal beamed down at their new robes. The material was obsidian black, and had a familiar sheen to them that led Charlie to believe that the robes were fire repellant. 

“Well, I’d say these are definitely an upgrade,” Eli joked to Charlie as he ran his fingers across the fabric. Charlie thought back to the equally-tattered robes they had shown each other shortly before the meeting. Charlie definitely agreed—he had never owned a piece of clothing this nice in his life. He inferred that it was probably the same for Eli. 

Once all the students received their robes, Xandra instructed them to put them on. It was a lot harder to put these robes on compared to their prior ones, as they were more form-fitting, which made sense—baggy clothing was not compatible with dealing with dangerous creatures. 

“That is much better,” Xandra contently observed as the last of the students finished putting on their new ware. “These robes are made from some of the most fire-repellant material in the world. While they won’t fully protect you from the intense flames that come from many of our dragons, they will at least prevent you from dying immediately.” If that was meant to be reassuring, it certainly didn’t come across as so, Charlie thought. 

“As said earlier, you are to wear these robes at all times when coming in proximity to any of our dragons. We have had many students be roasted alive within seconds due to the failure to comply with this simple rule,” said Xandra rather solemnly. By this point, everyone was latched into what she was saying, except for (to Charlie’s distraction) Jacques, who was staring back at… him? 

Charlie returned the stare for a few seconds before Jacques broke eye-contact and reverted his attention back to Xandra. Charlie was taken aback. Had he done something to warrant this?

Maybe Jacques was into him, Charlie thought. Jacques was particularly handsome, there was no doubt about that. With shiny curls of blonde hair and a well-defined jawline, Charlie was sure Jacques would have no problem picking up any witch or wizard he wanted, but which _was_ it: witch or wizard? 

Charlie didn’t give that question that much more thought, because if he was being honest, he couldn’t even answer that question for himself. It had been something he struggled with all the way through his time at Hogwarts, and he felt the reason for his struggle had been unlike that of any of his other classmates. 

The issue was that there was simply no one he had truly been physically attracted to at all, ever. At one point, he had tried to pinpoint the issue to his dedication to his studies, but something deep inside him told him that that wasn’t it. At times, he wished he could have reciprocated that one crush from that rather pretty Hufflepuff girl in his potions class, or the hilarious bloke he had worked with at The Magical Menagerie--but most of the time, he really didn’t care. He was even okay with that fact, mostly. However, at other times, his need, his calling to be with someone else asked for equal attention. 

Charlie glanced back to Jacques, who was still paying close attention to Xandra’s speech. Xandra--right.

“Now, I am sure many of you are very famished after your long journeys.” Xandra glanced down at her wrist watch to check the time. “Yes, dinner should be ready now. You may all head down to the mess hall. Afterwards, you will meet my colleague Ansel out front for the rest of the evening’s festivities. If you ever need anything, kindly send a patronus. My office is over there,” Xandra said as she pointed to the only other enclosed building besides the dormitories and the mess hall, “but you’ll rarely actually find me there,” Xandra admitted. 

“Enjoy dinner and the evening festivities, and get a good night’s sleep. You will need it for your first day of classes. Cheers!” And with that, Xandra disapparated, leaving the twenty students alone to head down to the mess hall for dinner.

On the walk back, Gal went to go find her roommate, Keiko, which left Charlie alone to walk with Eli. 

“So, do you know what specialty you want to go into yet?” Charlie asked, making an effort to strike up a conversation.

“No clue,” Eli admitted. “I’m just happy to be here, if I am being honest. I didn’t much like my chances of getting accepted. I wasn’t the most stellar student, and I definitely didn’t have any glowing recommendations,” Eli said. 

Charlie wondered what he meant by that, but he thought it better not to pry. But what did he mean? Was it true that most students at Durmstrang had at least some amount of darkness in them; was this an inherited trait there? Is that why he didn’t have anyone to vouch for him--because he really hadn’t done anything commendable? Nothing worthy of a recommendation? It just didn’t make sense.

“I see,” said Charlie, trying to hide the trepidation in his voice. 

After a long pause, Eli finally spoke. “What about you?” 

“What?”

“Do you know what you want to do?” Eli clarified. 

“Oh. Something hands-on for sure. I really want to prove to the people back home that dragons aren’t all that bad,” Charlie explained. 

“I like that,” Eli complimented. “Very lion-hearted of you, or should I say dragon-hearted?” Charlie laughed. Eli beamed back, his grey eyes sparkling. Surely his doubts about his newfound friend were nothing but cooked-up ideas based on stereotypes and nothing more.

Dinner was a surprising affair for Charlie. Instead of the food magically appearing in front of them, like it did at Hogwarts, they all had to stand and line to serve themselves from large serving dishes at the front of the hall. No house elves, Charlie realized. He didn’t find it to be much of an inconvenience, though. He always thought it was rather odd that creatures had to cook for wizards, when wizards themselves were perfectly capable of cooking on their own. He had watched his mother do it for the entire family his whole life. 

As Charlie and Eli stood in line waiting for their turn to serve themselves, Charlie noticed Jacques, who was a few people in front of them, staring back at him again. 

“I’ll be right back,” he told Eli. Eli nodded. 

Charlie felt a wave of nervousness rush through him as he approached Jacques. Jacques glanced away, as though to pretend Charlie didn’t notice him staring. 

“Hi, I’m Charlie Weasley,” Charlie managed as he reached Jacques and his group of Beauxbatons friends. Instead of being interested in the introduction, Jacques' friends retreated into their own conversation, which Charlie found rather rude. Jacques, who Charlie had directly confronted, could not make a similar retreat.

“You _do_ know where he’s from, right?” Jacques asked, not even bothering to introduce himself. He was eyeing Eli, who appeared to be picking at his fingernails. 

“Yes,” Charlie replied, “he’s from Durmstrang. I think he made that clear to everyone. Red robes and all,” Charlie replied. _So that’s why he kept looking back_ , he realized. 

“Look,” Jacques started in a matter of fact way, which immediately came across to Charlie as condescending. “I’ve heard about you–you’re a–or at least you were a really decent seeker, apparently. It was even in our news that you were a top draft pick for a whole lot of Quidditch teams.” Charlie wanted to roll his eyes, but he refrained. This was something he heard all-too-much in the months prior to his departure. He didn’t need another person reminding him of the fact that he was “throwing a perfectly good career in Quidditch away,” or so they would say.

“You don’t want to be friends with him,” Jacques stated bluntly. “There are a lot of better people here to be associated with, and when he inevitably goes down, I’d hate to see someone like you go down with him.”

Charlie looked back to Eli, who he caught looking at them slightly desperately. Part of him wanted to admit that maybe Jacques was partially right–maybe Eli wasn’t someone he should be spending his time with. His career was on the line here. 

Then he thought back to his time at Hogwarts, and all of the awful things Slytherins used to say about him, a lot of the times to his face–all because his family wasn’t as wealthy as the rest of the pureblood families. He had to work to make a name for himself at Hogwarts. If all the other students took five-hundred steps, he had to take five-hundred and one. 

He wasn’t going to make the same mistake so many other students had made with him. And so, he smiled at Jacques and said, “I’m good. Thanks, though.” 

He turned around to rejoin his friend, and didn’t look back.

~

While nothing could really beat the feasts Hogwarts always provided, Charlie was very content after dinner. He, Eli, Gal, and her roommate Keiko exchanged many stories about their time at their respective schools, the winning story being about a catastrophically failed charm casted by a first year at Keiko’s school that caused the entire student body to only be able to communicate by singing for an entire week. 

In good spirits, the four of them headed outside for the evening festivities, whatever those were to be–the group still didn’t know. The first thing that caught Charlie’s eye as they exited through the front door of the mess hall was the gorgeous mix of burnt-orange, violet, and deep blue the sky had turned as the sun began to set behind the mountains. It immediately made him think of similar sunsets back at Hogwarts—he and his friends used to watch them from the top of the Astronomy Tower and express how lucky they were. Charlie grinned at the fond memory.

Once the rest of the students had collected outside, including Jacques, who he was trying hard to avoid eye-contact with, a tall, bald, dark-skinned bloke came from behind them wearing a broad, friendly smile. Charlie noticed many burn scars covering his arms and legs, with a fresher-looking one across the back of his neck. 

“Hello, everyone! My name is Ansel Brandt, and I am the Head Dragon Tamer here at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. I will be teaching you all things hands-on when it comes to working with dragons. I am very excited to work with you all,” sung Ansel happily. 

“We can save introductions for tomorrow, because we need to get going, here,” he rushed. “I will be taking you all on a tour of the sanctuary.” 

This caused a stirring amongst the group. Some of the students looked hesitant, but most looked excited to finally see real-life dragons. Charlie, however, was beyond excited. Ever since he arrived, he was itching to know what lay beyond that first wall of mountains. 

After Ansel carefully reiterated the same rules Xandra listed earlier in the day, the group was ushered to a nearby broom shed by the main building of the sanctuary. They each were handed a broom and were up in the air, high above the ground. 

Charlie could easily spot the students who were inexperienced flyers almost immediately. He watched as Alejandra Zamora turned upside down on her broom before frantically balancing upright again. Even Gal seemed a little rusty in her flying abilities, as she struggled to maintain a consistent altitude, her broom bobbing up and down a meter in either direction. 

“If you don’t think about it as much, you should be able to fix the problem naturally,” Charlie offered. 

Gal seemed to take Charlie’s advice, as she leveled out shortly after.

“Thanks,” she sighed. 

“Of course.”

Once they were situated in a somewhat-organized group in the air, they were instructed to follow Ansel. 

The first mountain they were over gave way to an expansive field where about fifteen grass-green dragons were interspersed, some drinking water out of large ponds, some sleeping, while others were eating large chunks of raw meat out of troughs as long as the dragons themselves- which expanded out to at least fifteen feet. Some were flying, although they were much closer to the ground than the group. 

“These are our Common Welsh Greens. They’re rather friendly compared to the rest of our dragons, so we tend to keep first years with them. You will be getting to know these dragons fairly well this year,” Ansel explained. 

After the Swedish Short-Snouts, they were shown the Chinese Fireballs, which were a deep scarlet with golden spikes. Charlie was in awe as he watched an explosive mushroom-shaped fireball expel from one of their snouts. While students were horrified by the demonstration, Charlie noticed that Eli was equally wowed. 

They were then shown a massive Ukrainian Ironbelly followed by the beautiful deep-blue Swedish Short-Snouts. Charlie still couldn’t get over the fact that he was finally seeing _real-life_ dragons in person, fire and all. Working with the wide range of Hagrid’s creatures had always been his favorite part of the day at Hogwarts, but nothing could compare to these magnificent creatures. 

For the final stop of the tour, Ansel stopped the group mid-flight, pulled out his wand, and murmured an incantation into what seemingly looked like thin air. However, a strange ripple issued from his wand, and the entire scene was changed in front of them in a matter of seconds. 

“This is our collection of Romanian Longhorns, the most important part of our sanctuary,” Ansel explained seriously. “As you probably know, these dragons are extremely endangered due to horrific poaching, so we have to use a very powerful disillusionment charm to conceal their whereabouts from potential poachers.”

Charlie remembered reading all about the Romanian Longhorns. About fifty years ago, these dragons were the most populous in the world. However, once wizards realized the value of their horns, the species of dragon’s population began to dissipate rapidly. The thought of wizards slaughtering these dragons, a lot of the time in brutal ways, made Charlie feel sick with disgust. 

Throughout the tour, Charlie stuck with Eli, a rather skilled flyer himself, and it made him happy to see his friend as enthusiastic about everything as him. There was no doubt that the whole class at least seemed interested (give or take a few that were a little more hesitant, now that they were seeing the dragons in a way that weren’t in the pages of a book). However, Charlie saw the fiery passion behind Eli’s eyes that reminded him of none other than himself. 

~

With all the travel and the tour, Charlie could say that he was fully and whole-heartedly exhausted. All he wanted to do was collapse on his bed, and after a long, hot shower, Charlie was very happy to do just that–Eli following shortly after him. The lights were off, and Charlie found himself quickly drifting off when an apparently very-awake Eli spoke.

“Hey Charlie? Are you still awake?” He sounded nervous.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Charlie answered. 

“I think I kind of caught the drift of the conversation you and that bloke from Beauxbatons had before dinner,” Eli admitted, “and I just wanted to say that I would totally understand if you wanted to keep your distance. I know we kind of have a bad reputation at Durmstrang, and I’m not even going to try and refute it. Karkaroff–he’s not a person you would ever want to have as a professor, and I just–”

“Look–Eli–I know I just met you today, but I know you’re not like that. You don’t need to explain yourself, really. You’re a really cool bloke.” And he meant that–he genuinely wanted to be Eli’s friend. They had a lot in common, and he wasn’t going to let some rumor or stereotype get in the way of that.

Charlie heard what he thought was a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Charlie,” Eli said sincerely. “I must say, it’s nice to have a friend.”

Charlie felt his heart swell. “Likewise. Listen, we should probably get some sleep. First day of classes tomorrow and all.”

“Yeah, you're right. Night, Charlie!”

“Goodnight, Eli.”

As he drifted off to sleep, he felt excited for the days to come. He had imagined what it would feel like to be where he was for so long–the intense fulfillment of finally doing what he was destined to do. And the relationships he was to make along the way would make everything that much better. 


End file.
